


and the ones who load the dice, always say the toss is fair

by Sinna



Category: The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)
Genre: Demeter and Zeus and Charon show up if you really care about knowing that sort of thing, Not gonna tag any greek myth characters bc tbh this fic isn't really about them, Other, also tim is genderfluid bc I'm trans and I wanted to, and I guess technically persephone, in that Tim is Persephone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23455444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinna/pseuds/Sinna
Summary: Ashes O'Reilly and Gunpowder Tim have their fun with the City.
Relationships: Ashes O'Reilly/Gunpowder Tim
Comments: 14
Kudos: 118
Collections: Stowaways NSFW 2020





	and the ones who load the dice, always say the toss is fair

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Juan_Pujol_Garcia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juan_Pujol_Garcia/pseuds/Juan_Pujol_Garcia) in the [stowaways_nsfw_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stowaways_nsfw_2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  Hades/Persephone. An elaborate roleplay, from the perspectives of both those in on the joke and those who absolutely aren’t.

_The silk flowers are softer than they have any right to be, as Ashes weaves them gently into Tim’s hair. They press softer kisses to the back of her neck as she lets out a shuddering breath at the unfamiliar gentleness. Tim has been on the front lines for ten years, so coming back home to this softness feels strange. She can’t say she dislikes it though – soft fingers in her hair and softer lips at her neck – and it’s easy to slip off the soft silk robe she’s wearing, giving her lover silent permission._

_Ashes is never one to turn down an invitation. Before long, Tim is laid out on silk sheets and coming apart in Ashes’ hands._

_When she leaves the room over Hades’ bar, the silk flowers in her hair are fully in disarray and a dark bruise is blossoming on her throat._

\--

It’s not so difficult for a war hero to get adopted into the Olympians. It’s something of a surprise that Demeter should be the one to do the adopting, but not so much so when the pictures make it to the press. Persephone is really quite young and pretty for an enomotarch, and even the high-necked jacket and severe skirt of her dress uniform can’t mask a natural grace that certain Olympians would kill to share.

(A grace accentuated by the flowers fixed somewhat haphazardly in her hair.)

A few people note that it’s very good press for the Olympians to adopt outsiders into their family, especially one who’s been praised for her military prowess. It plants the idea that if people work hard enough, they too might be gifted with immortality. The real conspiracy theorists note that records of Persephone’s existence before the war are a bit spotty. And one or two people notice the uncanny resemblance between her and another enomotarch from the history books – a certain “Gunpowder” Tim.

But it’s wise not to question the ways of the Olympians, and anyone who brings up their suspicions tends to find themselves on the wrong side of an accident.

\--

_Ashes brushes a strand of hair away from Tim’s face. His eyes – and it’s he again today, he told them over breakfast – are always so expressive when he’s got his mouth between their legs. Ashes loves to watch him, even as part of them just wants to shut their eyes and just focus on what he’s doing with his tongue. But they resist the urge, and keep looking at him until it’s finally too much and they throw their head back as he draws another orgasm out of them._

_They’re breathing heavily as Tim kisses his way up their body, pausing along the way to lavish attention on their chest._

_“Tim,” they sigh._

_“Yes, Hades?”_

_He’s smirking like an octokitten that just swallowed one of Nastya’s tools._

_Instead of speaking, Ashes just pulls him in and kisses him again, entwining their fingers in his long hair._

\--

The newest Olympian drinks colorful cocktails and wears scandalously short dresses and reminisces wistfully of her days in the war.

She quickly becomes the media’s darling. Such a pretty young thing. Proved herself in service to the City and earned herself a fairytale happy ending. Or so it seems.

Until a few decades later, when someone gets a picture of her at The Styx. She’s pensive as she sips a sickly green concoction and stares off into the distance.

The Styx is where you go when you don’t have anywhere left to turn to. Ostensibly, it’s just a bar, but it’s one run by Hades, and everyone in the city knows who Hades is and what they do.

The bartender, Charon is honey-tongued and friendly and happy to fill you with drink until you sign a binding legal agreement to donate your brain to the Acheron – effective immediately. And once you realize what you’ve done, Hades is quick to emerge from the shadows and talk to you about your options.

You don’t go to The Styx unless you’re stupid, or there’s something you really need.

And Persephone might project an air of innocence and naivete, but she’s not stupid.

What she is, however, is engaged.

\--

_“You know, you didn’t have to set up this whole thing just to ask me to marry you,” Tim muses, admiring the ring on her finger._

_It’s unnecessarily showy, but Ashes has a reputation to maintain, and Tim hardly minds being draped in jewels._

_She looks good in them, too. Currently, her dress is pooled on the floor and she’s wearing nothing but the ring and a ruby necklace, and she looks like something out of a painting, lounging on the sofa all pale skin and dark eyes and the soft light of dawn glinting off the gemstones._

_“Amazingly, not everything I do is about you,” Ashes tells her, catching her lips in a soft kiss._

_She opens her mouth to them, and Ashes doesn’t hesitate to claim every inch of it._

\--

In the City, whatever Don Zeus says goes. So, when he publicly approves of Hades and Persephone’s marriage, that should be the end of it.

But Demeter and Hades have a history. See, Demeter is one of the more soft-hearted Olympians, and she’s helped more than one person out of a bind that would have otherwise put them right in Hades grasp. Hades has made no secret of their dislike for her, and Demeter returns the disdain in kind.

When Hades asks for her daughter’s hand, she refuses to give her blessing.

There isn’t much more she can do. While Persephone is legally her daughter, she’s also legally an adult, and all of Demeter’s warnings about Hades’ callous nature fall on ears unwilling to listen. Demeter can’t threaten to withhold immortality, because ultimately Zeus controls that, and they all knew whose side he’s on. She can’t offer her daughter riches, because whatever she offers, Hades has more.

But there is one other thing she can do. As the head of Thesmophoros Industries, she can shut down the factories. She can cut the entire city off from their main supplier of food.

She can, and she does.

\--

_Most of the city is starving, but The Styx – as always – is flooded with excess. Business is booming, as the desperate flock to the one person who might be able to help them._

_Ashes is holding court in the back of the main room, seated in a chair that might as well be a throne with the way the needy kneel at their feet. Tim is sitting in their lap, providing a suitably pretty distraction. She has a pomegranate in hand, and every few moments plucks another seed from it to crush between her teeth._

_Ashes turns their attention to their wife._

_“You’ve got-” and they lean in to lick a drop of juice off Tim’s collarbone._

_Tim flushes prettily and very nearly crushes the fruit in her hand. Blood red drips over her fingers and stains the edges of her silvery dress. Ashes just grins. They’ve had a hand up her skirt for an hour, and that’s what finally gets a reaction out of her?_

_“Let’s get out of here so I can get my hands on you,” Tim whispers in their ear._

_Ashes stands abruptly, scooping up Tim in their arms._

_“Charon? You can deal with the rest of them.”_

\--

Eventually, Zeus makes a deal. Persephone is promoted to Secretary of Agricultural Production, a job that keeps her in close contact with her mother and sees her delivering Zeus’ next attempt at a peace treaty. Demeter can’t bring herself to sabotage her daughter’s career – and potentially her life – and she begrudgingly reopens the factories.

And everything goes back to normal.

Well, mostly normal.

Persephone shows up to work with smeared lipstick and marks on her neck that aren’t quite hidden by her five-strand pearl necklace and she can’t resist a grin at her mother’s fury.

And in The Styx, Hades works their way through a hefty pile of new contracts with a smug smile.

\--

_Tim leans over Ashes’ shoulder, making idle commentary on the contracts in a soft voice that has absolutely no right being that sexy._

_“I’d say this all paid off rather nicely,” she remarks._

_“I told you it would,” Ashes reminds her._

_“I never doubted you,” Tim assures them._

_Ashes distinctly remembers multiple conversations to the contrary, but they’re magnanimous enough not to bring that up._

_Especially once Tim starts mouthing at their neck._

_“I do have other things to do besides fuck you into the nearest flat surface,” they remark._

_“Do you?” she asks, and Ashes can’t help but run the numbers: take a break now, or deal with Tim being distracting all afternoon._

_“You get fifteen minutes,” they decide._

_Tim slides into their lap and begins undoing their silk tie._

_“Twenty.”_

_And really, how can Ashes say no to such a pretty face?_


End file.
